Page 17 of Making It While Faking It
“The old gang. Dinner. You don’t remember?”
My eyes grow wide. “What? One sec.” I shuffle through my phone apps and select my calendar. Dang it. It’s written in black and white with a pink tag to remind me. Dinner with my old reality show cast members at my apartment tonight. I had forgotten all about it.
I turn to Caroline. There’s a hint of curiosity in her eyes, and it seems she’s on standby, prepared to do whatever I ask of her. I’m certain that Achilles wants me to make myself at home in his penthouse. Well, if I were at home, feeling achy and all, I would pull it together and have dinner with my friends.
But for some reason, something deep inside shoots my focus over to Achilles’s glass-encased pen. A man who keeps something like that in the foyer is sending a certain message.
“Treasure?” Brooklyn asks.
“Yeah, I’m still here.” I should tell her we have to postpone.
“Oh, and we heard about your engagement to Achilles Lord.”
I stifle a gasp as my eyes grow wide, and a lump the size of a bowling ball expands in my stomach. “Oh,” I say, pretending to be cheery.
“You’re living with him, right?”
“Huh?”
“Why all the secrecy, girlfriend? Are we having dinner at his house?”
Say no, say no, say no…
“Because we also heard what happened last night at the restaurant. It’s sort of a surprise, because didn’t you have this big blowout with the brother, Orion…”
“Okay, dinner here tonight at my new place. I mean, Achilles’s penthouse,” I say to keep her from inquiring about Orion. I don’t want to talk about him ever again.
“Oh, so then, you do live with him?”
I paste a faker-than-fake smile on while looking at Caroline and say, “I’m engaged to him, aren’t I?”
The Perfect Ex
ACHILLES LORD
“Why do you keep checking your watch?” Nero, my cousin, asks.
The hairs on my arms stand at attention. Treasure Grove should be at my apartment by now. Caroline will get her situated. I’ve asked Barbara Townsend, the private chef that my brothers and I share, to make lunch at three and then dinner at seven. I’ve been toying with the decision to stay in a hotel tonight. I need more time to prepare to have her in my personal space.
Shit, I’ve already forgotten what he asked.
“What did you say?”
Nero’s eyebrows ruffle with concern. “What’s wrong with you, Achilles?”
I sit up straight, forcing my head back into our conversation. “Nothing. What were you saying about Xander and Leo?”
He doesn’t drop his look of curiosity about my state of mind, but I give him an answering grimace that saysMind your own business. Taking the hint, Nero raises his glass of whiskey to his lips. “I was saying that if Yash can’t locate what we’re looking for, then there’s a reason it’s hidden.” He takes swig of whiskey and screws his face as he feels the burn. “I don’t even like this shit.”
“Then why are you drinking it?”
Nero flashes a dismissive frown. “I need it to get through this conversation,” he mumbles then readjusts in his seat. “I was saying that if we hedge our bets in trusting the Grove brothers, then we might as well just pull our pants down and bend over.”
I grunt at the unsightly visual. “Of course I don’t trust them. But what about her?”
His head seems to float as he leans back and says, “Treasure?”
I shrug as I take a quick swig of my own whiskey, wincing from the burn.
